INCLUSION THROUGH THE LENS OF THE REFUGEE CHILD & FAMILY - Welcoming & including refugee children and their families in our education & Care settings

Many refugee families come to Australia from different parts of the world, for diverse reasons and with a vast range of experiences. As Teachers and Early Childhood Educators, there are many ways we can ensure that our services and classrooms are well informed about their journey, and readily equipped to offer supportive, welcoming and inclusive environments.

What is the difference between a migrant and a refugee?                                                         
Migrants make a conscious decision to relocate and, in many instances, have been selected because they have valuable skills to bring to their new country.
Refugees however, flee their country for their own safety and usually cannot return unless the situation that forced them to flee improves. Furthermore, refugees have typically been exposed to high levels of trauma and significant periods of severe deprivation prior to their selection for resettlement. Transition to their new life in their new country therefore presents many challenges. Asylum Seekers are those that flee their own country and apply to the government of another country for protection, as refugees.

Over the last few years in Australia, the countries of origin of refugees and humanitarian entrants have been Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Bhutan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and recently Ukraine.  Over 800,000 refugees and displaced persons have settled in Australia since 1945 (Department of Immigration and Border Protection, 2013-2014).

As Teachers and Early Childhood Educators, we can be prepared to receive refugee children & their families,  by skilling ourselves up and tailoring our programs and environments to accommodate the unique challenges and sensitivities experienced  by the refugee children and families that come through the doors of our education and care settings. Working with and supporting the inclusion of refugee children & families enables practical application of our own cultural competence skills.
 
Treat each child & family as unique with a life story of their own.
It is important to think of the journey of every refugee child and their family as unique. There is no ‘one size fits all’ refugee experience and therefore no single mode of support that we can offer.             
As Educators, we need to be mindful of some of the issues that affect refugee children & families and develop strategies & support mechanisms that are meaningful, authentic and sensitive to their individual needs. For example, some children may be experiencing emotional issues including anxiety, fear or grief. It is highly likely that opportunities for play would have been minimal and that developmental milestones have been delayed. It is also likely that they have experienced trauma and have possibly been exposed to violence and death. One of our Ukrainian Bilingual Educators that is currently supporting the inclusion of a refugee child at her child care centre, reports that the child regularly engages in dramatic play around nursing & providing medical care for her wounded doll.

Equally as important is the need for us to be mindful of the problems associated with stereotyping and labelling refugee children and families. We should never assume anything about a refugee child, their family or their situation. From the onset, there is always great value in self and critical reflection around our own personal definition and perception of “refugees and the refugee experience”.  There is so much value in unlearning some of our previous learning and dismantling and replacing some of our assumptions with knowledge acquired through real life cultural competence building experiences.

We should also endeavour to understand the unique experiences of the children and families that become part of our education and care community.  We can best do this through intensive research and planning, demonstrating kindness and empathy and by putting ourselves in their shoes when delivering culturally sensitive programs & support. We can better inform ourselves about their experiences, by having conversations with various agencies that support these families, keeping up to date with current, relevant literature and asking those sensitive but insightful questions of families. Such steps help us develop authentic, meaningful relationships and connections. They also help create an environment where families feel safe to leave their child.

What are some useful practical tips & strategies that help facilitate inclusion and welcome of refugee children and families?:

• Gain insight and understanding of their refugee experience. Imagine yourself stepping into the shoes of the child and reflect on their recent journey, prior to arriving at your Service. Listen & watch carefully – putting the pieces together and getting the full picture does not happen overnight. When working with them, take on an education and care experience through their eyes.  Try and see things through their lens and come up with strategies that you think will help create a place that makes them feel settled, less afraid, more comfortable and safe. Sometimes it is important to look outside the box, particularly in humanitarian examples such as these and find ways to help remove any barriers or additional trauma. We are currently working with Child Care Centres to support Ukrainian children and families that have fled the war in Ukraine – many of our practices have been modified and adapted to remove red tape, provide immediate language & cultural support and offer flexible, relaxed options and solutions, that focus on the child and family, building sense of trust and security and forming partnerships.

 

• ‘Belonging, Being & Becoming’ – The Early Years Learning Framework – takes on a different perspective in the context of refugee children & families. For us at Diversity Kids, the primary focus  here includes creating an environment & programs that nurture and instil a warm, comfortable, happy & safe sense of belonging that support the children to work through their feelings & anxieties -  by providing and maintaining a safe, nurturing, familiar and predictable care environment and one where the refugee child feels comfortable and safe in their experiences and identity. Focussing on their sense of Belonging and nurturing their well Being will help contribute to their Becoming the best version of themselves.

 

• Don’t be afraid to ask the difficult questions of the families about their child’s needs, interests, abilities, strengths, likes, dislikes and what matters to them about the care and education you will be providing to their child. Encourage the family to stay as long as they like in the education & care environment and to participate and role model elements of language & cultural support they would like to see provided for their child. Support them to share important aspects of their culture and activities that are familiar to their child.                                                            

 

• Access programs such as the Inclusion Support Program and Bilingual/Cultural Support. Our Bilingual Educators are a practical language & culture resource, that can play a critical role in supporting refugee children and their families in their education & care environments by acting as a communication bridge, helping build trust, connections, a sense of cultural safety & belonging. They can work alongside Educators to help determine interests, strengths, areas of concern and support the child to be understood and understand what is going on around them and what is expected of them in their education & care settings. Bilingual Educators can help the child understand by communicating ‘in language’, but can also help guide the child and help them learn key words in English. Some of these Bilingual Educators may be of refugee status themselves and can help Educators gain better insight of on so many levels, providing strategies to assist with cultural transition and ways to connect with refugee communities.

 

• Develop inclusive programs and programs that are respectful of diversity for all the children at your service.                                                                                                                      , Introduce, with the aim of gradually embedding - programs and activities that structure discussions about refugees, migration, kindness, inclusion, empathy, diversity, mutual respect and social justice. Ensure that all the children in your education and care environments have voices and are heard – including your refugee children. There are many resources for children including books that can be used to introduce the refugee experience to children. See resource list below.

 

• Provide culturally & language appropriate services for your refugee families (Bilingual/Cultural Educators,  bilingual staff, interpreters, translated information) and deliver culturally and linguistically relevant activities that promote the child’s home language, cultural identity and cultural self esteem.  This can help provide a sense of familiarity, cultural safety and inclusion. Display and use key child care words in the relevant dialects, help teach the refugee children key words in English to enable smooth transition and support them to build on social skills with peers & Teachers.

 

• Offer innovative ways to assist children’s feelings and anxieties through for example, mindfulness & well being programs, offer calm, relaxing experiences and activities such as music, water play, yoga, breathing exercises and a sensory resources/room/space.   

 

• Provide direct support to families to access other specialist support services & help provide cross agency solutions for your refugee children and families. (refer to list below). Develop connections with staff from local migrant & refugee settlement support services, participate in local child, family and community services interagency meetings or events.                                                                                                                                                                       
• Find ways to acknowledge, celebrate, include and encourage your new refugee families to participate at your Service and feel that they belong.  Refugee children and their families are assets to every education & care community. Their experiences come with strengths, abilities and cultural knowledge that we can all learn and grow from on our cultural competence journey.

 
Services that can offer support to refugee children & families:
1. Refugee Council of Australia
    www.refugeecouncil.org.au
    Ph: (02) 9211 9333

2. Services for the Treatment And Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) 
    www.startts.org    Ph: (02) 9794 1900   
                                                                                                                                       
3. NSW Refugee Health                                                                                                                                                      
      www.swahs.nsw.gov.au    Ph: (02) 8778 0770                                                                                                                                                                                   
4. Settlement Services International     
     www.ssi.org.au      Ph: (02) 8799 6700 

5. Migrant Resource Centres
 
6. Asylum Seekers Centre                                                                                                                        
 https://asylumseekerscentre.org.au Ph: (02) 9078 1900                                                                                                                                                     

​Useful resources/books for children:
My Two Blankets – Irena Kobald                                                                                                          
My Name is Not Refugee – Kate Milner                                                                                               
Refugees – David Miller                                                                                                                               
What is a Refugee? – Elise Gravel                                                                                                            
Hello – A Counting Book of Kindnesses – Hollis Kurman
 
References 
​Department of Immigration and Border Protection, 2013-2014                                                                
Early Childhood Australia, Every Child, Cultural Considerations – Welcoming Refugee  Children & Families Into Our Services,            Vol. 22, No. 2, 2016: 8-9